ThE OpeRaTOr
by Darke The Black King
Summary: We're travelling, barely making out way. He's out there...looking for us...No, that's not right. Thing is, we're lost. Nothing makes sense anymore. We've found breaks in the Space-Time continuum leading to alternate realities, and he's chasing us down. Following us...I'm not sure what to do anymore, but I want to warn you. All of you. The Operator is always watching...
1. Greetings

Hi, my name is Enrique. I'm not gonna tell you my last name. I don't have one anymore, it would only help _him._

He's been watching me, you see. This impossibly tall, impossibly slender man in a suit. We've taken to calling him the 'Slenderman' (or the Anorexic man, if you ask Iz.) I think it irritates that thing, but were not sure. You can't see any expression on it's face, in fact he _has_ no face. A ten foot tall, faceless thing walking around, and you may think i'm crazy but i'm _not!_ He _exists!_ ...He sent me this message, over an e-mail. I know it was him, i don't know how I know, I just do.

'ThE WriTEr KnⓍWs tⓍⓍ mUCh. hE cANⓍnT bE aLLoweD tⓍ rⓍAm FrEe. I wiLl KeeP hiM WiTH me...FⓍrEVer...'

When I tried to message the sender back, I got this message.

'There is no 'Operator001' on record. Please check the E-mail address to make sure it was typed in correctly.'

Sad thing is, I know who the Writer is. There was a group of friends at my school - people who weren't all that popular who got together and started writing stories about this kind of garbage. Nobody would of thought it was all real. I never knew the Writer's name, nobody did. Everyone just called him 'Writer'. ...He and his friends disappeared a few days ago. When Iz crawled out of the forest, his mother was frantic, asking him where the others went. We knew something had gone terribly wrong, he was covered in gashes, and bruises. The next morning, his mother was found dead. Mutilated, dismembered...and he had disappeared. Everyone thinks he did it and ran for the hills...but after getting this message from the Operator and seeing him...I don't think so anymore.

The Writer mentioned in his book that they were 'immune' to the Slenderman. That he could hurt them, but he couldn't do what he did to most others.

He couldn't eat their souls. That's what he does to his victims...I shudder at the thought.

I'm on the run now. Me, Iz, and Rebecca. We're a group, and we plan to save as many of the Slenderman's would-be victims as we can...and find out what the hell killed Iz's mother...

...Wish us luck.


	2. A Step Back

Let me go back a bit, it all started a few days ago...

* * *

There were rumors spreading around the school that someone was posting an eerie picture of a demonic dog with a large, humanoid grin across facebook. They had caused it to go viral, pushing itself onto people's browsers. He had never believed in the rumors himself, but didn't really have to worry - he hated computer socializing. He prefered to talk to people face to face. He yawned, a particularly boring day at school behind him. It was 1:30 and he couldn't wait to get to his friend Arik's house and unwind. An afternoon of sweet video gaming ahead of him.

"Hey Enrique, could you come look at this?" Andrew Stoltz sat the next computer over in the computer lab - and they all knew that, if he wasn't the best, Enrique was definitely into the computer stuff.

"You're on facebook?" Enrique asked, peering at the screen.

"Yeah, and I can't get this damned thing to stop flashing on the screen." Andrew growled.

Suddenly an image popped onto the screen. It was a dog with black and white fur, similar to a Siberian husky. Enrique shivvered. The thing had an impossibly large grin, it's teeth looked eerily _human. Smile . Jpg_.

"_Spread the word..._"

He thought he had heard the eerie growl just behind him, but when he turned there was nothing there.

"Try restarting the computer." Enrique sighed.

"I can't get the thing off the screen long enough to get to start!" Andrew groaned.

Enrique sighed, mumbling quietly, "I think we'll find that there is a short circuit between the chair and the keyboard..."

He reached out and held the off button, crashing the computer, then turned back to his computer. He froze. "What the hell...?"

His e-mail had spontaneously popped up, with one new message from 'Unknown'. Out of curiosity, he clicked it.

The picture, Smile . Jpg, appeared on his screen. The dog seemed to be...staring at him...In the bottom of the picture there was a message he hadn't seen before. "Spread the Word."

He was sure it hadn't been there on Andrews computer. Finding that he couldn't turn it off, he crashed it just as the final bell rang.

He was _really_ ready to unwind for some games now...

* * *

"Hey Arik." He met with the boy on the way to his house.

"Hey Rick!" Arik called out his nickname. "Ready for some major gaming!?"

Enrique grinned. "Hell yeah. Had a rough day."

"Do tell?" Arik said, looking at them as they walked down the road.

"You know that rumor, about Smile . Jpg?"

"Yeah?" Arik replied.

"I saw it." Enrique sighed. "Andrew asked for my help and it was stuck on his screen."

"Well jeez, did you get visited by the ghost of Christmas past?"

Enrique groaned patiently. "I wouldn't be to worried about it, except that immediately afterward I got an e-mail with the same picture attached telling me to 'Spread the Word'.

"Isn't that part of a song?" Arik asked.

Enrique thought for a moment, then answered, "That's 'I'm spreading the news', New york new york."

"Oh, right, right." Arik chuckled, walking up his front porch. His house was small, there were no cars there. No one was home. "That's strange, usually moms home by now..."

"What's this?" Enrique asked, pointing at a small parcel next to the door.

"It's for you..." Arik said, picking it up.

"Who's it from?"

"...no return address..." Arik answered, ripping it open.

Enrique sighed. "Arik?"

His friend opened the door and left it open after walking inside. He followed Arik, closing the door behind him and into the Computer room. He watched as Arik pulled a CD from the package, and put it into the disk drive.

He looked down. A small note was scribbled into the package. _Spread the Word_.

"Arik, I don't think you should..." He paused. It was already on the screen. The image of that horrible smiling dog.

That's when it hit him. He had first seen the video at 1:30. School ended at 2:00. Where had the time gone? He forced himself not to look at the computer screen, only his friend. Arik was completely focused on the screen, not reacting to anything else...

Not even to the dog that appeared in the corner, smiling at them with a deep growl echoing in it's throat.

"Spread the word..." It growled.

It suddenly disappeared as the doorbell rang. Enrique turned and quickly crashed the computer without looking at the screen.

Arik shook his head. "What happened? Where'd it go?"

"Arik, someones at your door." Enrique replied, starting up the stairs. Arik reached the door first. A pair of policemen stood on the other side, looking sadly at him.

"Arik Oblian?" They asked.

"Yeah...?" He replied shakily.

"There's been an accident. We need you to come identify the body..." The officer paused for a moment, then added, "I'm sorry to tell you this son, but you're mother's been killed."


	3. Iz, Homecoming

We stood there, staring in shock at the crime scene. Blood was spread everywhere, clumps of flesh spread across the room. Enrique shuddered, what was left of his friends mom looked very much like ground beef.

What could've done this? No human, that's for sure.

"That's her ring..." Arik pointed toward a small, golden band covered in blood. Even though his father had died years ago, his mother had never stopped wearing it. She started working harder to support him.

Arik's face was incredible blank, as if he couldn't believe this was actually happening to him.

Enrique shuddered. He had been allowed to come because he told the cops that someone was following him. He told them about the pictures and the messages - but omitted the part where the smiling dog had appeared in the corner of the room and the missing time, he wasn't sure how they'd react to that.

"Do you know anyone who would want to do this to her?" One of the cops prodded carefully.

Arik shook his head. "No, I can't. Not a soul. She wasn't perfect, but no one wanted to kill her..."

The officer sighed. "Is there a place you can stay for the night?"

"Yeah, my parents are home." Enrique said. "He can stay at my place." The officer nodded, and asked the address (Don't expect me to write it. Like i'm gonna throw that out with this thing chasing after me!) he input it into a gps and pulled away, driving them there.

About halfway down the road, Arik gasped, "What the hell!?"

Enrique glanced out his window just in time to see an impossibly skinny, faceless man standing on the curb.

"What is it?" The cop asked, suddenly calling "WOAH!" and slamming on the brakes.

Before we could even ask what was wrong, something threw itself through the windshield, and blood flew.

The thing...it was an eyeless human-like creature with sharp teeth covered in a thin layer of skin. It looked suspiciously similar to the tall man they had seen a moment before. It was deathly skinny, and had long, rake-like claws stretching from its fingers.

"_RRRRAAAAKKEEEE!_" It's high pitched voice shattered the stillness of the cool air, and Enrique turned to immediately pull Arik out of the car, running to the house. he glanced back once, to see blood being thrown against the windows. The creature leapt back out the windshield, crawling, but still catching up to them. Enrique's blood froze, his heart skipping a beat.

"_ENRIQUE. ARIK. KIIIILLLL..._"

He threw himself into the house, pulling Arik through and locking the door. He quickly realized it wouldn't matter. The thing could break through the windows.

Then he remembered the disk. He still had it! He ran with Arik into the computer room, closing the door.

"Pile everything you can find against the door, buy me some time!" Enrique called, glad that there were no windows in this room. "And for the love of god, don't look at the computer!"

As Arik shook out of his Stupor and began piling, Enrique started the computer up.

"C'mon, C'mon..." He growled, putting the disk into the drive. He turned. There it was, the dog. The Smile Dog.

"Spread the Word..." The dog growled.

"I can't spread the word for you." Enrique replied, glaring at the thing. It roared loudly, darting forward and knocking Enrique to the ground, inches from his throat before he said, "Not if that thing out there kills us."

The dog turned as the creature outside slammed into the door, and growled, "The Rake..."

It turned back to Enrique before backing off him and moving toward the door.

"Move..." It growled to the obviously frightened Arik. He looked to Enrique, who nodded, and quickly pulled the objects away from the door.

The Rake burst into the room, only to be met head on by the Smile Dog, who tackled into it.

"They're _mine!_" The Smile Dog barked.

"_Kill, for Operator._" The Rake hissed. "_I will kill...!_"

"Operator?" The Smile Dog hissed. "No, they will Spread the Word!"

The Dog pushed the Rake to the ground and lunged for it's throat, but stopped, staring at the window next to the front door. Enrique looked toward it.

Standing there, was that faceless man...

The dog turned back to Enrique and Arik, starting toward them.

"...damnit, great idea Enrique..." He hissed to himself. "Get the evil smiling dog to help you kill the evil man-beast and hope the don't _both turn on you!_"

-Bang! Bang!-

One of the shot's hit the dog in the leg, causing it to shriek. so it could be hurt...

A girl stood down the hall, holding a gun out. A voice behind her sneered, "Well, Well, if it isn't the Anorixic Man."

That tall, slender man turned his head to look at the speaker, a boy with long, grey-green hair. Someone Enrique hadn't seen in years.

"...Iz? Iz Irenz?"

Iz turned to look at him. "How's it goin' Rick? Seen any funny pictures on the net lately?"

He pulled a long, wooden ninja sword from behind him and held it up. "You know, I was never one for avoiding animal cruelty, keheheheh..."

He burst forward, bringing the sword down to the dogs head. It was able to jump to the side, barely, and hi hit it's shoulder. The Dog disappeared into thin air and the Boy leapt through the air gracefully, landing beside the Rake and swinging the wooden blade at it.

Enrique thought for sure that the thing would slice right through it as it raised it's claws, but to his surprise the blade held without so much as a scratch.

"It's bewitched." the girl said, motioning for him to follow her. "It's been blessed so that it can affect them."

They raced down the other hall, heading for the back door. "Don't worry about your parents Enrique, You're families been evacuated and are back at base.

Enrique nodded, not questioning her. She stopped suddenly. "...Slenderman."

The tall, slender man stood in the hall ten feet away, staring at them with his faceless face.

She raised her weapon, and began to fire.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!-

The shots flew through the Slenderman, who didn't even flinch tendrils made out of some wispy gaseous fluid rose from it's suit and darted toward the girl.

"_Shit!_" She managed to gasp as they wrapped themselves around her wrist and throat, quickly forcing her to drop the gun and then lifting her into the air, choking.

Enrique tried to reach out and grab the tendrils away, but to his surprise his hand passed easily through them. He couldn't touch it.

A mouth seemed to stretch under the Slenderman's face, though none could be seen, giving the impression of a spine tingling grin.

Arik reached into his pocket an pulled out his mother's ring, handing it to Enrique. "Hold this..." He growled, "I wouldn't want to lose it."

He reached down and picked up the girl's gun, firing shot after shot into the thing, racing toward it. When he reached it, he pulled back his arm to punch it. As soon as his fist connected, he crumpled to the ground, clutching his head in pain. Enrique could see blood, and...some other strange liquid flowing down his face.

"Aww, damn." Iz growled, appearing behind Enrique. "The idiot touched him!"

Iz glared up at the Slenderman. "You've killed one too many today Slendy." He grinned. "Don't eat too much, or your name won't fit you anymore."

Iz darted forward and swung his sword at the Slenderman, causing it to stumble back and drop the girl.

"C'mon!" He called back. "What the _hell _are you waiting for!?"

Enrique stopped, reaching out to Arik.

...his skin was melting...

Enrique felt his stomach turning. What the hell?

"Don't." The girl said. "He's full of radiation now. He'll die soon if he's not dead already. C'mon."

Enrique turned and nodded, following the other two out of the house...


End file.
